Wine List Bar / COLLARCH
Text description provided by the architects. The WineList wine bar is located in a small ground floor area and in a larger cellar of a historic building in Prague. The interior has previously changed its function four times. These gradual changes have created an interesting mix of historical and contemporary building elements in the interior of the building, being pleasantly and logically connected in some places and completely negated in others.
We proceed to create this rich, multi-layered history of the interior with our own current layer. We preserve the well-crafted historical elements such as the original vaulted brick ceilings and we keep some suitable technical solutions from later periods – for example, the building’s ventilation system. We remove unsatisfactory elements and poorly made layers. All historical and contemporary strata together form unmistakable and timeless genius loci.
The interior of the ground floor is united by a fine gray-white patinated painting of the walls and ceiling. The rounded edges and corners of the perimeter walls further soften the character of the interior. The cast epoxy floor with a washable rim around the perimeter of the room is tinted brick pink.
The main bar with an integrated refrigerated display case is designed using the same material. The dominant element of the interior is a built-in cabinet made of solid brushed oak with built-in self-service wine vending machines. Tables and seating are made from a combination of natural brushed oak with additional features made of white metal or plastic.
The ground floor of the wine bar is connected to the cellar by a generously designed staircase which is dominated by a soffit made of bent brass plates and a lavish pendant lamp that can evoke an image of a full moon. The soffit not only makes the staircase extraordinary but also contributes to the optical fusion of its otherwise highly fragmented ceiling. The steps and the handrail of the staircase are made of solid oak, backlit with orientation lighting.
While the ground floor is designed more like a day bar with predominant tones of white and light gray, the cellar is tuned to an elegant evening black-gray. Wherever possible, we cleared the cellar interior of insensitive building modifications added in the later periods and, conversely, revealed the mixed historical masonry and the original cellar vaults to the maximum possible extent. The floor was unified by a neutral gray concrete screed.
The interior is complemented with high-quality bespoke furniture made of brushed oak. The wooden furniture makes the individual parts of the intricate cellar more pleasant to use and complements them with individual functional elements such as niches for wine vending machines, a bookcase with an inserted projection screen, or a bench with integrated heating and backlight.
The wine storage is designed as a separate air-conditioned room. Steel bottle racks, developed by the COLLARCH studio, maximize the use of space for optimal wine storage. They are universal for different shapes and sizes of bottles and at the same time, their design gives the storage an outstanding, unique look.
